CATAN HISTORIES: STRUGGLE FOR ROME

The first thing do be done in a turn is the starting player, who goes first in all phases, rolls the dice to determine what resources are generated this turn. Four resources are rolled each turn and the number has to be unique. If a seven is rolled, he gets to move the Legionnaire (who acts like a thief in the original Settlers game i.e. blocks a resource and you get to steal a resource card from a player adjacent to this resource) to a resource hex. In the next phase players trade for resources with other players and build units.

The units are men (one for each tribe per build) to increase your tribe’s strength, wagons which get you gold when you plunder a city and are used to help conquer cities and finally development cards which can give you things like extra gold, instant victory points or special movement. You can trade resources at a 3:1 ratio to the bank for a resource card of your choice or, once per turn, spend three gold for a resource of your choice. Once this phase is done, players move their tribes starting with the mounted one in one phase and the unmounted in a second phase as well as performing plunder and build city actions if they wish. You move along the edges of the resource hexes from dot to dot (cannot end your move on a city hex) and you can cross one land or sea movement arrow for free. For every subsequent land arrow you have to pay a wheat or three gold. For every subsequent sea arrow you have to pay a gold piece. If you wish to plunder a city you have to be next to it and have a strength equal to or greater than the number of towers on the city. If you meet these conditions, you get the plunder chip, flip it over, take any loses and get the loot (gold, resources or development cards). It should be noted that this is the only way to get gold in the game. As well, the player puts the plunder chip on his appropriate tribe resource box . You can only plunder two cities of any color and cannot found cities until you conquer at least three cities of different colors. Another option is that you can start a kingdom when you have looted three different cities by moving onto a city hex meeting the same strength conditions as for looting a city. You then place your wagon on this hex with your tribe marker. From then on, this tribe is fixed and cannot move except by expanding to adjacent cities again using the strength rule and having to put a figure and a wagon on each conquered city. Each city “conquered” is worth a victory point. You get special victory point cards if you meet the following conditions:Scourge of Rome (2 vp) – If a tribe plunders at least one city of each color

Diplomacy (2 vp) – This is a special resource card and is similar to the army card in the original Settlers in that the person who has the most of these cards over three owns it. Also, diplomacy cards act as a thief roll making you to move the legionnaire to a new resource square.

Heir to Rome (2 vp) – This is the toughest card to get since each of your tribes has to have conquered four cities. If you win this card you win the game since conquering eight cities plus this card will give you the necessary victory points.

Finally you rotate the starting player (hand him the dice) and go through these game phases again until someone has the winning number of points.

This game is more a race game than previous games in the Catan series. Plundering cities not only gives you extra resources but also counts towards the Scourge of Rome card (2 points) and provide you with gold. However, you have to get all five colors of cities to get the Scourge card and not everyone will be able to do it so you must plan your routes carefully. You also have to build up your tribe’s resources so you can expand your kingdom when you decide to “settle down”. The game is really a balance between a) keeping your pieces moving and plundering to get resources but not points with b) founding kingdoms in good resource areas to get points and win the game. This tension, along with competition with the other players, make it an interesting game. The Mayfair edition substituted very nice plastic figures and coins for the wooden pieces normally found in Settlers. Unfortunately, they also provided player aids on very flimsy and thin paper instead of the mounted cardboard in the European edition. The rules are well written and illustrated as you have come to expect from these games. In addition, there is a
n online tutorial at the Catan website (http://www.profeasy.com/StruggleForRome/index.html) along with a small expansion which can be downloaded to add another special scoring card. I beleive Catan Histories: Struggle for Rome is a worthwhile addition to any Settlers fan’s collection. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Chris Kovac

Spring 2007 GA Report Articles

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